REALITY TVJennie Nguyen Addresses 'RHOSLC' Firing In Instagram Live, Refuses To Apologize For Having Different Political Opinions
Jan. 26 2022, Published 8:17 p.m. ET
Jennie Nguyen is speaking out about her recent firing from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
As OK! reported, the newbie housewife, 44, was recently booted from the Bravo reality series after a series of racist Facebook posts from 2020 came to light.
On Wednesday, January 26, Nguyen took to Instagram Live to share her side of the story.
Nguyen explained that she wasn't sure if someone on her team posted the offending social media posts, or if she did herself, but she takes "full responsibility" for the offensive content. However, the former Housewife refused to apologize for having different political views than others.
"I am very proud to be a Republican," the embattled reality star continued. "I respect your opinion. I respect your political stance. We are different."
Ngueyn was then joined on the stream by her friend Michael, who is Black.
He explained that while he had to educate the tv personality on the Black Lives Matter movement following her shocking posts, he thought of her as a "great person" and was with her on Instagram Live to support her because "this is what you do for your friends."
Bravo first announced Nguyen was axed from the hit TV show in an official statement on Tuesday, January 25. "Bravo has ceased filming with Jennie Nguyen and she will no longer be a cast member on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City," the statement read. “We recognize we failed to take appropriate action once her offensive social media posts were brought to our attention."
- Bravo Fires 'RHOSLC' Star Jennie Nguyen After Racist Social Media Posts Resurface, Network Apologizes For Failure To 'Take Appropriate Action'
- Jennie Nguyen To Speak Her 'Truth' After Being Axed From 'RHOSLC' Over Offensive Social Media Posts
- 'RHOSLC' Star Jen Shah Slams Jennie Nguyen's Apology Claiming She Lied About 'Having A Team Of People' Handle Her Social Media Accounts
The network also promised to avoid the situation in the future by working, "to improve our processes to ensure we make better informed and more thoughtful casting decisions."
Just one day before the announcement of Nguyen's firing, Bravo boss Andy Cohen addressed the situation, calling the former housewife's posts "very upsetting...and disgusting."
"People were upset about the lack of discussion on last night's episode [of Watch What Happens Live] relating to Jennie’s disgusting and upsetting posts, and I’ve also seen all the tweets wanting to know what’s being done about those posts," Cohen explained earlier this week.
“I just want to say, in case anyone doesn’t realize it, that there are many serious discussions happening right now about everything — about everything,” he continued. “And I can’t address the situation right now, but it will be addressed very soon, and thank you for your patience.”
Nguyen's RHOSLC costar Lisa Barlow also acknowledged her friend's offensive posts while appearing on Cohen's show, saying, “I’m completely anti-racist, so I hope everyone does better, but I definitely don’t condone those. I haven’t looked at Jennie’s Facebook page in years. I was totally surprised.”
Nguyen — who previosuly shared posts calling Black Lives Matter protesters "thugs" and "violent gangs" — issued an apology on her Instagram page last week claiming to be regretful of her past choices.
"At the time, I thought I was speaking out against violence, but I have since learned how offensive and hurtful my words were," she wrote in her statement. "It's why I deactivated that account more than a year ago and why I continue to try to learn about perspectives different from my own."
"I regret those posts and am sincerely sorry for the pain they caused," she concluded at the time.
